Honora's Great Escape (feat Bumi)
by Miss-Li-ding
Summary: The Gaang and their teenage children meet in the Fire Nation for a reunion. Honora's glad to see her friends again, but of course, fate just loves to screw things up for them and semi-serious shenanigans ensue. Involves next!gen characters such as Kya, Bumi, Tenzin and of course, Honora.
1. Part 1

**Honora's Great Escape (fea****t.**** Bumi)**

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(insert disclaimer here)

Author's introduction: So, this is my first attempt at writing fanfiction for the fandom. If you wish to disembark, lifejackets are stored under your seats. Honora is Zuko's daughter, and thus named because of Tumblr. Fair warning: creative license widely applied, so if something doesn't seem quite right, please refrain from hanging, drawing and quartering me and instead send a review so I can reply and try to defend myself/make up excuses/fix it /sob.

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**PART ONE**

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"Everything in the universe is interconnected, Honora." The old man took a long sip of his tea and sighed appreciatively.

The teenager seated opposite him did likewise, except without the sigh. "What do you mean?" Honora appreciated her tea-time with grand-uncle Iroh. It always made her feel a little calmer afterwards, and it was amusing watching father throw up his arms and mutter about how he was corrupting her tea-free existence.

"Avatar Aang was once told that separation was an illusion. The Fire Nation, Water Tribes, and Earth Kingdom might all seem very different, but underneath it all… Every element can contain a trace of the others, if only you look close enough."

"Like how aunt Toph found earth in metal?" She shifted her legs a little to prevent a bout of pins and needles.

"Yes, that is an example. But I mean like finding earth in fire, or even finding fire in water."

Honora frowned. "Earth in fire. I suppose that would be like lava."

"Mmm." He took another sip.

"But what about fire in water? Wouldn't the water put the fire out?"

Grand-uncle Iroh shrugged, and was about to reply when there was a knock on the door and one of the palace servants stepped in. "I'm very sorry to interrupt, but it's time for Honora's firebending lesson."

Honora looked at Iroh. "Go on," he said. "I'll see you … oh, at dinner, I guess."

She frowned. "Grand-uncle, not that I want you to go, of course, but don't you usually live above your tea-shop?" He was insistent in constantly having a hand in running it, although he was a frequent visitor to the Fire Nation palace.

"Ah, don't tell me you've forgotten already! The gang is having its annual reunion today, remember? And of course, I was invited."

Honora clapped a palm to her forehead in exasperation. How had she forgotten? "Thanks for the reminder, grand-uncle." She placed her tea-cup back on the table before getting up, bowing, and briskly walking to the training grounds.

* * *

Honora usually loved firebending. Of course, it helped that she was rather good at it. But she was rather distracted throughout her lesson that day. After her initial excitement at seeing her friends again, Iroh's statement kept popping up in her head.

She kicked and punched the air, fire blasting from her fists.

_Fire in water. How do you get fire in water?_

The first sequence of movements merged seamlessly into the second as she jumped and rolled into the next sequence.

_Fire in earth was lava, which was basically just really hot rock, right?_

Flames whirled around her torso, but she was only partially paying attention to what she was doing as she frowned. For some reason, her mind kept fixating on hot rock.

Mentally shaking her head, she started to move onto the next sequence but, momentarily distracted, her foot slipped and she wobbled in the middle of her kata.

Her instructor held up a hand and frowned down at her. "Princess, what's the problem? You appear to be quite distracted."

"…Nothing, sir." Hot rock. Heated rock.

He sighed. "Just concentrate on the kata- oh, good afternoon, your highness." He bowed to someone behind Honora.

Honora turned. It was her father, Fire Lord Zuko. She did the same, bowing for a moment, then straightening. "Hello, father."

He smiled at her before addressing the instructor. "How is her lesson going?"

"Good, good, she's just revising one of her katas. Honora, why don't you show your father what you've been practising."

Honora nodded and told her mind to shut up, but it refused to listen.

As she went through her flame fists and fire kicks, the words kept chasing each other around her head. It didn't help matters one bit.

_Hot. Fire. Heat. Water. Hot. Fire in water. Hot. Water._

Honora's mind whirled along with her body. Hot water? Would fire in water simply be hot water? And if she could bend that fire- perhaps- perhaps-

_Agni. _She missed a step again and her instructor frowned. "From the beginning again, princess."

She'd tell uncle later. First, she needed to finish her firebending lesson.

* * *

Grand-uncle Iroh was calmly polishing off the last of the tea when Honora came rushing in again. He looked up at the sweaty teenager. "Back so soon, Honora?"

She took this as an invitation to explain her train of thought.

Iroh had to ask for her story twice before he understood. "Oh, so you think there might be fire in hot water. I see what you mean… Like the heat. Very clever!"  
"Yes, but would it be possible to bend that heat? It's like fire, right?"

"Well, theoretically, I suppose it would be possible. I don't see why it wouldn't work…" said Iroh thoughtfully.

Honora called a servant over, and soon a pot of hot water over a brazier was sitting in front of them. She raised her hands, but paused as she realised she had no idea how to begin. "Grand-uncle… I don't know how I should start."

"Hmm. Well, you're trying to manipulate little bits of fire. Maybe imagine you're trying to bend a candle flame."

She reached out towards the water, feeling the heat broil her hand. Then she flicked her hands up, as she would to augment a candle flame.

Nothing. Not even a ripple.

She tried again.

Still nothing.

"Can't you just do it and show me?" she grumbled, playing around with the fire in the brazier.

"I would..."

Honora brightened.

"…but I don't know how to do it either." He lit a fire in his hand and heated up the last cup of tea before sitting back and drinking it. "Mmmm."

She sighed. Perhaps if she tried making the heat slightly bigger? She closed her eyes and sought out the heat again, feeling the blob of warmth pulse in her fingertips… Then with a flicking motion, she channelled her chi into the heat.

"Arghhh!" She fell backwards with a startled cry as the brazier fire suddenly exploded in her face, upsetting the pot of water. _Okay,_ she thought, breathing deeply,_ let's try again._

One hour and numerous pots of water later, Iroh was snoring gently to one side, oblivious to his grand-niece's frustrated shouts as her temper finally snapped and she started kicking the pot around. "Why," kick, "won't," kick, "this," kick, "work?!" The last kick was particularly vicious and the pot bounced off the wall next to Iroh's head.

He stirred and yawned. "How is the-"

"It's not working!" she groaned, giving the dented, abused pot one final kick.

"Don't stress about it, niece. It is very difficult for even a fully-realised avatar to bend lava."

"But this isn't lava," Honora said, pacing around the room like a caged tiger-dillo, "it's water and it should be a million times easier to bend-"

"Ah, but you're not an avatar, are you? This will take time, Honora."

"Ughhh." She collapsed into a chair.

"Have patience and try again later. Take a break. Practise your knife-throwing. Perhaps meditat-"

Honora got up from her chair. "You know, I think I will." She strode out the door.

"Throw knives or meditate?" Iroh called after her. No answer. He sighed. Considering her parents, he highly suspected it was the former.

* * *

Honora methodically emptied her sheaths of weapons- her first lot of knives, then her second lot of knives, then her first holster of darts, then her second holster of darts. The rhythmic thudding of her weapons against the target soothed her temper, and she soon started practising in earnest.

She had emptied and resheathed her knives and darts for the third time, and was about to start throwing again when a pale, slim hand corrected the positioning of her elbow. Honora whirled around, coming face-to-face with her mother, Fire Lady Mai. "Mother!" she said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," replied Mai calmly.

"No- I mean-"

Mai decided to spare her daughter and cut to the chase. "I hear you were a little distracted in firebending training today. What was that about?"

"Oh, I was talking with grand-uncle over tea and I was thinking about what he said during training when I had a brainwave so I ran off to try it out."

"You have training for a reason."

"I just got a little excited, mother, and I guess I became careless."

Mai raised a skeptical eyebrow but said nothing, just as a servant walked in and bowed. "Yes?" Mai asked.

"Fire Lord Zuko says that a Water Tribe ship has been spotted coming into the harbour."

Honora visibly straightened. "That's them!" She turned towards the door but then remembered her mother behind her. "Mother, may I go and greet them?" Mai nodded. A sigh hadn't fully escaped her lips when Honora left the grounds, still clad in her sweaty clothes, and headed for the harbour.

Honora stood on the wharf, standing as close as she could to the edge without getting in the workers' way. She peered out to the horizon, where the unmistakable shape of a Water Tribe ship was growing larger and larger and squinted, seeing some coloured dots waving at her.

As the ship drew closer she could finally make out their details. The one dressed in blue waving a water whip had to be Kya. That meant the slightly shorter orangey blob next to her must be Tenzin, and the one in brown next to him and waving as frantically as Kya was Bumi. She waved back excitedly.

Suddenly Kya stopped waving. She appeared to be bending something… an ice boat? Honora grinned hugely as she realised what Kya was about to do. Kya lowered the boat into the water and jumped in, motioning to Bumi and Tenzin. Bumi tugged at Tenzin's sleeve, but Tenzin shook his head, saying…something. It was impossible to hear from this distance.

Finally, Bumi threw his arms theatrically in the air and just pushed Tenzin off the edge of the ship. His arms flailed for a moment before he remembered his airbending and landed neatly in the boat, muttering to himself. Then Bumi jumped in, almost upsetting it, and Kya started waterbending the ice boat forwards.

The makeshift boat soon reached the wharf. "Kya! Bumi! Tenzin! It's so good to see you all again!" Honora said, beaming.

Kya waterbent herself up from the boat, splashing her siblings in the process, and hugged her. "I haven't seen you for ages! How is everything going?"

"Great! I'm so glad you're here, we're going to have a wonderful time!"

A gust of wind blew into Honora's face, and she peered past Kya's head to see Tenzin landing gently onto the wharf.

He brushed droplets of water off his orange and yellow robes, a disgruntled expression on his face. "Hello, Honora. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm good, thank you. You?"

"Fine, although a little damp, thanks to somebody-"

"Aw, don't be such a wet blanket, Tenz. You're just sad you didn't get to be a loner and ride Oogi over." With an ungraceful lurch the two girls stumbled forwards to include the airbender in their embrace. Honora patted him on the head mid-embrace. He grimaced, then sighed, resigned.

Suddenly they simultaneously tripped backwards a few metres as something large, heavy and wet collided with them.

"Honora!" Bumi...boomed (there was really no other way to describe his yell). "How's my favourite Fire Nation princess doing?" A dripping hand ruffled her top-knot and, extracting an arm from the tangle of limbs, she batted it away.

"I'm the only Fire Nation princess you know," she said, mock-sternly. "But yes, it's good to see you too."

Footsteps came up behind them, and she felt the pressure of the three bodies leave her as the three siblings hurriedly detached themselves from each other and bowed to the Fire Lord and Fire Lady.

"Kya. Tenzin. Bumi. Welcome to the Fire Nation." She could hear amusement in his voice.

"Where's everyone else?" asked Mai.

"Mum's still on the ship with aunt Toph and Uncle Sokka," said Kya. "And dad got caught up in some Avatar business so he'll be arriving in an hour or so."

"Aunt Suki won't be coming until three more days, apparently there's some Kyoshi island... stuff that she needs to sort out with the twins," Bumi added.

The shouts of the dock workers increased in volume as the ship pulled closer to the wharf. Honora moved her friends out of the way of the descending gangplank before stepping forwards to join her father in greeting the new arrivals.

Aunt Toph was the first off the ship, muttering curses on ships under her breath as she stomped down the gangplank and shrugged off any efforts made to guide her. She stopped in front of Honora and her father. "Hey, Sparky. And Mrs. Sparky. And Sparky Junior." Not bothering to make any conversation, she wobbled onto the solid stone part of the wharf and earthbent herself a chair. "Next time I'm going on Appa with Aang."

Uncle Sokka was close behind. "Ah, but then you'd miss my wonderful company!" He bowed to Mai and Zuko, then shook his head, laughed and gave her father one of those back-slapping man-hugs. "Good to see you again, Zuko. How's the Fire-Lord-y stuff coming along?"

As her father got drawn into a conversation with Sokka, Katara stepped off the gangplank. "Sokka! How many times do I have to tell you, insert-weapon-here-bending is not a type of bending!" she admonished. "Hello, Zuko. Hello, Mai. Lovely day, isn't it?"

"How was your journey here? I heard there were rough seas a few days ago."

"Oh, it wasn't too bad, except Toph-" The ground underneath aunt Katara shifted and she just managed to avoid tripping.

"Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't listen," snipped Toph.

"I'm rolling my eyes at you, Toph. Anyway, I have to say, it seems like Honora never stops growing."

Honora mentally compared her height against Kya and slowly grinned. "I think I'm as tall as Kya now."

"Hey! You're not allowed to be taller than me!"

Bumi took a few steps back and peered exaggeratedly at the top of their heads. "Hmmm... it's Kya! No, no, Honora... wait, maybe Kya..." Honora flicked some sparks at him at the same time Kya splashed him with more water.

("Kya!" a freshly-damp Tenzin grumbled.)

They bickered happily all the way back to the palace.

* * *

Going back to the palace took a little longer than it should have due to the curious crowds that gathered to have a gawk at the Gaang, despite keeping the ostrich-horse-drawn carriages to the back streets as much as possible. But after that, it wasn't long before the group dropped off their luggage in their rooms and gathered on one of the private pavilions on the palace grounds for refreshments.

Bumi was reclining on one of the padded benches on the pavilion, chomping on a pastry. "Aaah. Have I ever told you how sweet it is you're royalty?"  
"You could stand to mention it more- hey, that's my seat!" Honora threw a grape at him. It stuck for a moment in his nest of dark brown hair then rolled onto the floor. A stern look from her father, however, prevented any further retaliation.

Suddenly a familiar groan sounded in the air above them. Everyone looked up and saw two flying-bison-shaped blobs circle around them, before descending and landing with a gentle thud next to the pavilion amidst calls of greetings.

Tenzin ran over to the smaller bison and patted it fondly. "Oogi! Thanks for bringing him, dad."

"Welcome, Aang! It's great you made it!"

He grinned. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything...wait," he said, eyes focussing on the table of food in the pavilion, "are those egg custard tarts?"

Honora grinned and passed him the plate. "Here, uncle."

Two tarts rapidly disappeared down his throat, almost faster than Sokka running to an all-you-can-eat meat buffet. "Mmm, thanks Honora." He looked around and smiled. "You've grown a lot, I think you should be taller than Kya by now, is that right?"

"Dad, how could you!" her friend wailed, as everyone laughed.

Zuko waved a hand at the servants, who started carrying away the table of food. "As much as I enjoy informal gatherings, unfortunately, I'm obliged to throw a formal dinner for the Avatar and the heroes of the war, so I suggest using the next few hours to mentally prepare yourself." He grimaced. "And before you ask," he added, seeing Kya take a breath to speak, "the invitation, of course, extends to the children of the Avatar."

Kya, Bumi and Tenzin all deflated like punctured waterskins.

* * *

The wings the guests were currently staying in were only a corridor away from the Royal Wing of the palace, so it was only natural that Kya come over to Honora's suite to muck about and get ready for the dinner, or so Kya said.

"C'mon, Honora!" Kya jiggled the door open and started pulling her inside.

Honora frowned, and looked down the corridor where the brothers were passing by. "What about Bumi and Tenz? I'm their host as well."

Tenzin heard. "Don't worry, Honora," he called, "We don't mind. Anyway, you two haven't had girl-bonding time for a while." He grimaced slightly.

"Yeah!" Bumi smiled a custard-yellow grin and slung an arm around his brother. Tenzin's grimace became more pronounced. "We'll be fine! We've got the whole week to catch up after all."

Honora wavered. "Well, if you insist."

"That we do! Come on, Tenz!" Arm still firmly wrapped around the airbender, Bumi walked him away, Tenzin half-heartedly trying to get out of his grasp.

"See you!" Honora waved and turned to go inside, then something clicked in her mind. "Hey Kya, there's something I've been trying to do with water..." She eased the door shut behind her, smiling to herself as Kya babbled on. This week was going to be fantastic.

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Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Now, this fic isn't finished yet (_you won't escape quite so easily /cackles_) although most of it's done. So I'll probably be uploading a chunk every day or two (so that I get more time to finish the end bit orz). A review would be wonderful. If you're worded-out, even a smiley face will do.

_Up next: Interlude- where shit starts to get real. Sort of._


	2. Interlude I

**Honora's Great Escape (fea****t.**** Bumi)**

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/sticks disclaimer sticker onto fic

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**INTERLUDE I**

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A small group of men huddled silently in a dark, mouldering cellar. The flickering flames hovering in some of their hands cast strange shadows on everyone's faces and made the damp walls gleam wetly.

One man jumped as a large drop of water plopped onto the floor, accidentally brushing the wall, before immediately springing away in disgust and brushing his cloak off urgently. One of the others sneered. "What, can't handle a little dirt?" He flicked the cloak.

"I'll have you know, this cloak is woven with the finest rabbit-goat hair from the best pastures in the Fire Nation-"

"Silence!" hissed another of the men. His cloak covered the simple armour of a common soldier, but the way he carried himself reeked of self-importance. His voice was well modulated, and carried no trace of the country roughness hidden in most of the others' speech. "We have not come to discuss a mere cloak, especially when the Fire Nation is being ruled by a traitor!" He spat on the floor, then continued, addressing the sneering man. "Have you got everything in place?"

A slight bow. "Yes, General, they won't suspect a thing." The sneer grew more vicious.

"Oh please, if it hadn't been for me your whole plan would have failed. Did-"

"Why, you-"

The fire in the general's hand flared upwards towards the ceiling, and the men settled down and started glaring at each other. "If you two do not stop obstructing our meetings with your petty bickering, I'll have to, ah, take some action of some sort. Now. Are there any other situations I should be aware of?"

Silence.

"Good." He started chuckling, which escalated into full-blown laughter. "The day is almost upon us! Mark that day, men! Tomorrow, we strike against the traitor! We strike for the righteous ruler of the Fire Nation-" He stopped abruptly as the boards above their head creaked slightly with the weight of footsteps. "I suppose we should call this meeting to an end. Quickly, out, everyone, and make sure you are in your places tomorrow, or there'll be hell to pay."

One by one, the group filed out of the basement. The general watched them go, a smile still stretching his thin lips, before clenching his fist and extinguishing the light within.

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AN: Yes, this is rather short, but I promise this will be the only tiny chapter. I hope you enjoyed regardless! Thanks for the reviews so far, they are appreciated :)

_Up next: Shit actually does get real._


	3. Part 2

**Honora's Great Escape (feat. Bumi)**

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I hate disclaiming  
Disclaimers are dumb  
Anyway, start reading  
I hope you have fun!

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**PART 2**

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_Thud._

The small, slim knife smacked hollowly into the wooden target as Honora scowled in its direction. The torch flames, in their sconces lighting up the darkened hall, sparked and glowed brighter in response. Bumi, she decided, was an annoying-

_Thud._

-stupid-

_Thud._

-moronic-

_Thud._

-asshole. She pulled the last knife from its sheath and pretended the target was his fat head.

_Thunk._

It stuck a little lower than she aimed...no, never mind that, she got him perfectly in his big mouth. She rapidly emptied her other arm of knives before marching up to the target to yank them out (as painfully as she could) and began again.

Everything was fine before the formal dinner. It was sometime afterward, though, that they had started shouting at each other. The funny thing was, she couldn't even remember why they had stopped talking to each other. It was probably some jibe that Bumi had taken too seriously and used to fuel an argument. Or something else, but it was definitely Bumi's fault. Anyway, it had ended up with them both giving each other the cold shoulder as Kya and Tenzin attempted to patch up the tense relations between them.

She threw another knife into the target. Kya had unsuccessfully tried to improve her mood by helping her figure out the whole hot water thing, but that had just ended up in several exploded fires or some other form of combustion, and they'd given up for the moment, mainly because Honora didn't want to scald her friend. She'd tried to retire to her bed early, but she was so irritable she kept tossing and turning, which was why she was currently dressed in her training clothes and shredding the targets this early evening.

Honora would have preferred firebending, but firebending aggressively in the training courts at this time of day would have caught dad's attention. He'd be disappointed that she hadn't been diplomatic and sorted this whole thing out. _After all, she was the host_, prattled the little voice in her head. It was her duty to look after the wellbeing of her guests. It was starting to sound suspiciously like her dad's. Plus, she was the Fire Princess, which meant that when she became Fire Lord (but not for a very long while yet, she hoped) she'd have to learn to do distasteful things (even if the situation wasn't her fault at all).

The thoughts buzzed around in her head like a swarm of flies. Distracted, her next knife clipped the edge of the target. The one after that struck the target hilt-first. The little voice continued pestering her._ Fine_, she snapped to that annoying voice, _I'll go sort this mess out_. Honora shoved all her knives back into their sheaths and strode out of the hall.

_For duty, and it's good practise_, she repeated to herself as she went to find Bumi's room. _Duty and practise. Right._  
Finally, she found the right door. He had quite a nice suite, albeit slightly out of the ordinary. From the inside, the front door opened onto a sheltered garden, which was rather uncommon. She racked her brains for a reason why the steward might have placed him there, then realised she was stalling. A deep breath. Then she knocked firmly on the door.

There was a brief pause, then a "coming!" and some rustles, and the door was yanked open. "Yes- oh, it's you." His hair looked even messier than usual, and his clothes were rumpled as if he had hurriedly pulled them on before answering the door.

Honora stuck her foot in the door to pre-emptively prevent him from shutting it. She had taken the plunge and might as well finish what she intended to do. "Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry," she forced out the word, "for whatever-."

"Apology accepted." He went to close the door, which was blocked by her foot.

"What, aren't you going to apologise as well?"

"Why on earth would I apologise? It was entirely your fault! Now if you'll excuse me-"

"Excuse me for wanting a civil reply to an apology for something which was actually all your doing."

"What!? How was it my fault-" Honora detected something whizzing past in her peripheral vision, but she was slow to react. "Duck!"

"Huh?" Her head turned just as she felt a sharp sting in her side and the world around her started spinning slowly, legs collapsing from underneath her.

Frantically, she looked around, grabbing a nearby vine to try and stay up, but it was no use. She sat heavily onto the ground, the black-tipped dart falling out of her side. Flames lit up in her unsteady hands as she scanned her surroundings.

A movement caught her eye and she focussed her woozy sight on a group of black-robed figures as they fired another dart. It missed her by a huge margin, but it all made sense as the sound of a thump behind her reached her ears.

She turned back to see Bumi, collapsed and out cold on the ground with a similar dart in his neck. "Bumi!" she tried to cry out, but all that left her throat was a strangled moan. With a start, she realised the flames in her palms had sputtered out as well, and she tried to do something, anything, but another dart nailed her in the muscle between her neck and shoulder and she succumbed to the darkness before her torso hit the ground.

* * *

The first thing Honora felt was something uncomfortable pressing into her stomach, and a jolting, swaying sensation jostling her entire body. Her stiff muscles protested, and she unconsciously attempted to stretch her limbs out before realising she was trussed up more thoroughly than one of those gigantic hippo-pig hams they had on festival days. It took a moment before she clicked and remembered what had happened.

Her eyes flew open. _Bumi! What happened to Bumi?_ she thought as she started wriggling slightly, attempting to loosen her bonds. From the appearance of things, she was slung over a mongoose dragon in front of the rider of the animal, and she resisted the urge to panic as they rode over a narrow path carved into the side of a slope. A steep drop yawned open beside the pathway. If only she could somehow fall off and take cover behind some greenery; the lack of light in the night sky would make for decent cover...

Her half-baked escape plan was not to be. A hand seized her collar in the midst of her wriggling, and a gruff voice above her shouted, "The princess has awoken!" It pulled and turned her around so she was facing the drop off the cliff in a side-saddle position.

Another voice called back. "Just hold her until we get to our destination, we've almost reached it." Its tones were cultured, reminiscent of a noble's. She frowned. The voice sounded strangely familiar.

Her rider sneered at her and leaned over. "Try any mischief of any sort," he growled quietly into her ear, "and-" He was interrupted by the sounds of a scuffle coming from the other side of the mongoose dragon, and Honora tried to twist around and see what was going on.

"Stay still, peasant!" a voice growled, and there was a smack of flesh against flesh.

"Where's Honora?!" demanded a familiar voice.

"Bumi! I'm over he- mmmf!" She was cut off by a glove wrapping over her mouth. "Shut up!" he hissed. "General, should I?"

"Gag her. Oh, and you might as well do her boyfriend."

If looks could firebend, she would have roasted everything around her. She wasn't sure what she found more insulting; the indignity of the gag, or the assumption that she'd date that asshole she had been mad at (she felt it was a little inappropriate to be uncooperative with each other in this sort of situation).

Bound and now tightly gagged, Honora resigned herself to shooting glares at the backs of the riders in front of her.

As they travelled across the mountains, Honora could feel herself becoming warmer and warmer, despite the fact that the sun had almost set. A drop of sweat trickled down her temple, and she shook her head, trying to dislodge it, before she realised that she was a scant few metres away from slipping off the edge off the mongoose dragon and into the dark ravine. Where were they, anyway? This place seemed not unfamiliar, and judging by the rough dirt surface of the path, and the few tangling weeds and creepers that marred its surface, the road used to be relatively well-travelled in the recent past.

A few hundred metres more along the winding path, Honora angled her head and she caught sight of a cloud of smoke- or was it steam?- at the peak of the mountain and after a few seconds she remembered. This looked like-

"Boiling Rock," said the guard, as if reading her mind. "Almost there."

She was still trying to process the fact that she was going to be held at Boiling Rock, an almost inescapable prison. She was sure her father had shut it down several years ago, but was going to get it maintenanced soon, which confused her even more.

The party drew closer to their destination, and she began to make out some details. Above them and to their left, a cluster of what looked like red balloons near the summit on one side of the peak, and some brown blobs, probably tents, a little further down.

It didn't take long before they reached the top of the volcano. They rode straight past the encampment, stopping at the top of the volcano where a worn brown shelter was located. There was a flurry of movement and a brief exchange of words in front, and most of the front riders turned around and rode back the way they came. Some glared at Honora as they went past, and she glared right back before peering up front. It looked like one of the front riders had gotten off his animal and was- oh. Right. She let the guard drag her off the mongoose dragon and, legs restricted by some rope, followed him, half-hopping, half-walking into the gondola that had just arrived at the shelter.

Bumi and three other soldiers were already in there. One side of his face was red and starting to bruise, and they shared frustrated looks with each other briefly before her guard spun her around so they faced opposite directions. With a jolt, the carriage started moving over the steaming water.

More sweat trickled down her face as it lurched and swayed on its cable. Finally, the man that sounded like a noble broke the silence, motioning to the guards. "Ungag them. And remember, there's no point in screaming for help, because no-one can hear," he said pleasantly.

Honora made a face as her gag was undone. "I'm not a screamer," she said flatly.

Behind her, Bumi spat on the floor. "I hope you fall into the water and boil yourself."

"How very rude of you."

Bumi sputtered indignantly. "Says the man who kidnapped us! My neck is still sore. What was on those darts, anyway?"

"Shirshu vemon, a bit of this and that... I can't let you know my secrets now, can I?"

Bumi snorted, but the man ignored him. "I hope you have a nice stay in Boiling Rock. You might be here a while."

"Yeah, about that," Honora said slowly, "This is probably a bad idea. For you, I mean."

"Oh? And why would that be?"

"This prison's only temporarily shut down. There'll be contractors coming in any time soon for maintenance," she bluffed.

He laughed. "That's not at all true. Work isn't set to begin for another three months at least. I would know, I drafted the proposal."

"You're not a councillor, how could you have..." She frowned. Councillor gone bad...noble background... "Wait a second. Are you the banished Admiral Lin Yao?"

Another laugh. "Very astute, Honora."

"But isn't General Xing in charge of state structuring...stuff?" asked Bumi.

Honora raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you cared for Fire Nation politics."

"I don't. He was just prattling on and on to me about his job at the welcome dinner the other day."

"So self-absorbed. Which is why it was easy for him to take the credit for my proposal." Honora could hear the moist sound his mouth made as it stretched into a grin. "Perfect for my plans."

"Which are going to fail because you're going to have a group of elite benders hunting after you and looking for us. Including the Fire Lord and my father, the Avatar, in case you missed that memo?"

"I'll let you have your little fantasy. No-one's going to look here, it's supposedly under maintenance, as you said previously. And besides, my ransom messages will be sent from another place entirely."

"...Ransom messages?"

"It is not necessary for you to know any details."

Honora glared at him. With all this glaring, she'd be squint-eyed by the end of the day. "Tell me!"

The gondola wobbled as the guards wound it to a halt, and Bumi and Honora's guards marched them onto the platform. Their ropes were quickly cut off, but before Honora had time to take a breath and firebend, they were bodily tossed off it onto the courtyard a few metres below.

Fortunately, Honora's fall was cushioned by something soft and a little squidgy. She dug her elbow in it to try sit up. "Oof! Honora, get off, you're heavy," grumbled Bumi.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, did I hurt you or something?" exclaimed Honora, scrambling off him.

A clearing of the throat above them caught their attention, and they looked up to see Lin Yao. "Don't you two love your special treatment? You two get full rein of the island, except for the gondola platform,of course. Food for the day will be dropped to you every morning. Oh, and no escaping allowed!" He chuckled, as if he'd said something particularly funny. "Any questions?"

"Um, yeah," said Honora. She resisted the urge to attempt to firebend into his face. Even if he did get hit, there was no way they could reach the platform from down below. "What are the ransom messages for? Are you holding us to ransom?"

The banished admiral just laughed again. "Let's just say that, if Agni wills it, well, I hope your weak, honorless, traitor of a father chooses wisely."

Honora growled. "My father has more honor in one strand of his hair than all of you bastards put together!" she shouted. Smoke started to float in wisps from her fists.

He ignored her and turned away, but she swore she could hear him smirking. Prudence be damned, she thought. Teeth gritted, she punched in his direction and a large fireball burst from her fist. It didn't get very close to him before a shield of flame sprung up and absorbed the hit. "Now, now," she heard him chide, "you don't want to have to go a day without food." And he walked away, leaving behind a fuming Honora.

"I'm going to murder that bastard," she hissed.

Bumi patted her gingerly on the shoulder, watching carefully for any signs of fire besides the smoke which streamed from her hands. "C'mon, let's find somewhere to sleep." He picked up the bedrolls which had cushioned his fall and offered one to Honora.

Her eyes flashed furiously. "You've given up already? Aren't you going to at least try-"

"Honora, we're sleepy and cranky and there's no point in making an escape plan if it's too dark to see. We'll regroup tomorrow, oka-aaah." Bumi yawned.

She acquiesced and took the proffered bedroll. "Fine. Let's find somewhere to sleep."

"About time, my arm was about to fall off."

"Whatever." She suppressed a yawn as they went into the building.

"I can tell you're rolling your eyes at me- hey, up there." Bumi tugged Honora up some stairs and steered her in the direction of an empty, unlocked cell. A bed was tucked into one corner. "You sleep in that one. I'll be in the one next door."

Honora just nodded and laid out her bedroll. She wouldn't admit it, but she did feel pretty worn out. "'Night," she said, flopping onto it.

"Sleep tight," said Bumi, and left.

She could hear a little creaking as Bumi laid out his bedroll, then nothing as her eyes fluttered close and she fell asleep.

* * *

Thanks for reading, and please review! Every review, whatever the length, I get makes me smile c: Also, thanks to those who've already reviewed and favourited and followed, you are faaaaaabulous and I love you all.

I spent a while researching how to knock someone out, then realised that this was a fantasy world and hugged my creative license, and took a lot of liberalities with the layout of the prison building. I also wrote the entire chapter before I thought to research the geography of Boiling Rock and forgot it was in the middle of the ocean ugghhhh. And a fun (?) fact: The distance across Ba Sing Se is about the distance from the Fire Nation Capital to Boiling Rock (if that map on Avatar Wiki was correctly scaled, that is).

Unfortunately, I still haven't started typing up the last chapter of this fic and because I don't want to make you wait for the ending I've decided not to post the next chapter until I get at least 500-700 words done on it even though there are still about 3 chapters to go before the final chapter.

_Up next: Back in the Fire Nation palace, shit interferes with Sokka's breakfast._


	4. Interlude II

**Honora's Great Escape (feat. Bumi)**

* * *

Disclaimer, schmishclaimer...

* * *

**INTERLUDE II**

* * *

The only good thing about having a reunion in the Fire Nation, Sokka decided, was the food, and the fact that you could order food from the royal kitchens at any time of the day, which was why he was currently in the dining room stuffing his face.

Normally he'd be comatose until midday, but his room was right next to the stupid pig-rooster hutches, and this morning he found out the hard way that they really did crow at the crack of dawn. Tui and La, he was going to give Zuko a dressing-down when he next saw him (although, on second thoughts, this was probably just petty revenge for rooming Zuko next to a mating turtle seal colony last year in the south pole).

He was about to take another bite of his spiced porridge when Zuko came bursting into the room, robes a-flapping and shiny piece of metal askew in his messy topknot. "Do you know where Honora is?" he demanded, slamming his palms onto the table.

Sokka's spoon froze halfway to his mouth as the dishes clattered on the table. "Uh, why're you looking for your honor again? Didn't you get over that ages ago?"

"Not my honor; Honora! My daughter!"

Sokka frowned and rubbed his chin. "I don't know. The last time I saw her was at dinner yesterday. Are you sure she's missing? Maybe you-

Zuko's hands started steaming. "I've looked everywhere!"

"Uh, have you told the guards yet?" asked Sokka.

"Yes, Mai's gone to do that already. I'd go tell Aang but he got called out early this morning on Avatar business." He started pacing the room.

"Hm. Well, I'll help you search outside the palace, if you want."

Zuko looked up.

"But first, I must finish my porridge!" Sokka started shovelling it into his mouth.

"You sound like Uncle Iroh." Zuko paused for a second, then when he realised Sokka would take a little longer than that to finish his breakfast, he scowled. By the time I'm back, you better have finished eating." He turned to leave and almost ran straight into a blue blur that came racing through the doorway.

"Have you seen- Zuko! There you are!" exclaimed Katara, running a hand through her hair worriedly. "Have you seen Bumi anywhere? I can't find him."

"Bumi's missing too?"

"Yes...wait, missing 'too'? Who else is missing?"

"Honora. Zuko lost her. Ha, get it? He lost his honor again!" cackled Sokka. He was simultaneously whacked across the back of his head.

"Not the time, Sokka!"

"Ow, okay, okay!" Sokka rubbed his head mournfully. "But I guess maybe history really does rep-"

"Maybe you should just stop talking."

* * *

The three adults stood around Bumi's empty suite. It had been Sokka's idea to go back to the last place where they were seen and look for hints regarding their disappearance. He stood and looked at the area, rubbing at the numerous tender patches on his head where he had been repeatedly whacked. "The garden looks a little disturbed." He knelt to inspect some plants.

Zuko frowned. "That's not too surprising. The gardeners have been doing some work lately, plus it's been windy these past few days."

"But why was Bumi roomed here in the first place?" asked Katara. A frown creased her forehead and she brushed her hand over some plants.

"Yeah, everyone's rooms seemed rather separated this time."

"I don't know. My usual steward has been ill for the past couple weeks, and he got someone to replace him."

"Isn't that a little too convenient?" Sokka stood up and brushed dirt off his knees, watching Zuko's jaw clench, but turned at Katara's sharp intake of breath.

"Look!" She held some singed, blackened blades of grass in her hand.

Zuko took them from her and rolled them between his fingers. "A relatively recent singeing, I'm guessing. Maybe even Honora's flames." He gritted his teeth, and the grass crumbled to ash. Smoke wafted out from between his fingers.

"They were probably captured together, Bumi and Honora," Sokka deduced, stroking his stubble, "and the placing of his suite would have made it convenient, seeing as it's the furthest away from anyone's."

"Agni damn that bastard. I'll get that imposter detained right now."

Katara crossed her arms. "You do that. You wouldn't happen to have a balloon handy, would you? I'm going to look for my son."

"Well, meet me in the back courtyard in ten minutes. I need to find my daughter."

"I'm coming too. No-one messes with my nephew and honorary niece."

There was a brief pause before Sokka cracked. "See? I didn't even point out the pun that time!"

Katara scowled, but before she could say anything, another voice piped up. "Hey, where are you guys all going?" Toph appeared from around the corner.  
The other three quickly brought her up to speed. "I guess that means I'm coming too," she announced.

"Suit yourself." Zuko turned to stride off quickly.

"I just have one question; what was Honora doing on her own near Bumi's room?" Toph added. Her milky green eyes were gleaming mischievously.

Sokka could almost hear Zuko's jaw opening and closing like a stunned fish. If he leaned over a bit, he could probably even see Zuko's eye twitch. "...I really hope what you're implying is incorrect, Toph." He hurried off, but that wasn't enough to disguise the smoke from his hands, now billowing gratuitously out from between his fingers.

Zuko barely had time to storm off dramatically when two blurs raced around the corner and skidded to a stop, panting.

"Have you seen," gasped Kya, hands on knees.

"- Bumi and Honora today?" Tenzin finished, breathing almost as hard as Kya.

Sokka and Katara exchanged looks, and started herding the group towards the door. "Well..."

* * *

I hope you enjoyed! A review would be great as well :D

ughghghgh schoolwork and exam prep is preventing me from spending as much time on this as I would like, PLUS I'm trying to organise my personal 'NaNoWriMo' (look it up if you don't know what it is :D) so unfortunately your next update will not be coming until some time next week SORRY.

_Up next: The two captives make some progress with shit_


	5. Part 3

**Honora's Great Escape (feat. Bumi)**

* * *

FAV0 cus im a str0ng, independent FANF1C WR1TER that d0nt need n0 disclaimer~!1!-okay I'll stop. Anyway.

/EDIT (23/11/2012) GODDAMMIT FFN. WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME. I posted the wrong chapter... the one I apparently posted was the interlude AFTER this chapter, not this chapter itself /claws at face

* * *

**PART THREE**

* * *

Honora slowly awoke, pulling herself out of the depths of slumber, and frowned, shifting slightly. Her bedroom seemed a lot hotter than usual, and her skin was tacky with half-dried sweat. Nevertheless, she kept her eyes closed and turned over onto her other side, rocking the thin, lumpy mattress slightly. Thin... Lumpy... With a start, she remembered the events of the previous evening and, opening her eyes, she sat up abruptly, looking around.

Nothing had appeared to have changed during the night- not particularly surprising given their current location. The room was still dark, but from her position she could see bright morning light slanting into the corridor from window slits in the walls.

The strangest development overnight was the noise. A strange, snorting kind of noise kept repeating over and over again. What on earth was it? It sounded like some sort of mildly threatening animal, but at least it didn't sound too close, and Bumi- oh, no. What if it had gotten to Bumi?

Honora jumped out of bed and was out the door before her head switched on fully and she realised that the noise was probably just Bumi snoring. Hand in the act of knocking, she paused and turned to squint through a window slit again. Considering that the lip of the volcano wasn't enough to block the sunlight, she guessed it was already late morning. Time to get up and plan their escape. She was about to wake him when a loud bell started clanging outside, regularly, but without any sense of rush. Bumi's snores stopped abruptly and he groaned quietly, shifting his position.

The bell kept clanging.

"Bumi, are you awake?"

"Mmhppff... Honora?"

She nodded impatiently. "Yeah. I'm going outside to see what's happening." She turned on her heel and headed for the door.

Behind her, she heard the rustle of fabric as Bumi got up. "Hey, you aren't going without me!" He sat up and started to stagger, still half-asleep, after her.

The clanging stopped as soon as they reached the gondola platform on the outside of the building. Shading her eyes, Honora glanced upwards, and barely stepped back in time as a blob dropped down from above.

THUD.

The cloth-wrapped package landed in a little puff of dust on the stone flags of the courtyard next to the two water-skins already there. A guard popped his head over the edge and shouted down at them from above. "That's breakfast, lunch and dinner for you!" Then his head disappeared.

The two shrugged at each other and went to inspect their food. Honora uncorked a water skin and sniffed at it. The skin appeared to be well-used, but not spoiled. She sniffed, then tasted the water as well, and she could detect nothing wrong with it. Beside her, Bumi had finally finished struggling with the knots in the cloths sealing the bundle. As she looked over, he peeled away the cloth to reveal two slightly squished loaves of bread, what looked like some very squashed, wrapped up rice cakes and some bruised apples. Not exactly gourmet fare, but then again, they were prisoners.

"Awww," Bumi groaned. "I could eat all of that for breakfast and still have room for seconds." True to form, his belly rumbled.

Honora smacked his shoulder lightly. "Don't be so greedy. Didn't your mother tell you to share?" She set one loaf to her side, and pushed the other towards Bumi.

"Divide that into thirds. For breakfast and the other meals." The rest of the food wouldn't divide up equally, so she pushed over a little more than half the remaining food before starting to split up her own loaf. As she dug her fingers into the crust, it started flaking, stale crumbs rolling onto the cloth.

Bumi, having already started devouring his breakfast third, paused as he mentally compared the size of their shares of food. "Wow, Honora... it's okay- I mean, don't you want more?" He started to move one of his rice cakes over to her side.

"No thanks, I'm fine." Somehow it didn't feel right to take his food. Her temper had already gotten them into this mess, although not accepting it would only slightly relieve that strange sense of guilt. She ignored it and pinched his cheek. "You're so adorable when you try to be a gentleman," she cooed exaggeratedly.

"I'm not trying to be a gentleman, I just-"

"So you don't want to be a gentleman?"

"No, it's not- I- ugh, whatever." He continued biting into his bread, then stopped mid-bite. "But remember, the offer's always open!" he said, spewing crumbs everywhere.

Honora grimaced, holding her portion of bread away from him, and brushed herself off. "Bumi! That's disgusting!"

* * *

Their impromptu meal was quickly over and the remains were wrapped in separate cloths before being deposited in Bumi's room. He put his hands on his hips. "Now what, your highness?"

Honora gave the bundles one last glance, making sure to remember which one was hers, before turning around. "We play strip pai sho," she said with a completely straight face.

"Uhh..." The faintest hints of a blush formed under Bumi's tan.

She laughed. "Just kidding, we can't do that-"

Bumi rolled his eyes. "Good, I was wondering where your sense went for a moment-"

"- we don't have any pieces. I mean, if Lin was here she could probably earthbend some pieces for us... what about hide and explode?"

A pause.

Then Honora whacked Bumi's shoulder again.

"Ow!" He rubbed it, a hurt look on his face.

"What, did you think I was serious? We're going to find some way to escape! I haven't played hide and explode since I was six!"

"Okay, okay! Perimeter tour?" he suggested, heading outside.

"Yeah, sounds good."

Although they got a little lost inside the prison building at first, they got out onto the actual island itself without any major issues, and before long, they were slowly walking around the edge of the island, scanning the inside of the volcano. Bumi broke the comfortable silence after only a minute, exhaling loudly and rubbing beads of sweat off his forehead. The heat from the boiling water combined with the Fire Nation climate quickly served to stew them more thoroughly than a pot of sea prunes.

Honora wasn't bothered as much by the heat, being used to the climate and dressed in her lighter practise clothes. Bumi, on the other hand, was going redder than a lobster-crab, despite already wearing a short-sleeved tunic. He tugged at the neck uncomfortably. "Uh, Honora?"

"Yeah?" She didn't look away from her perusal of their surroundings.

"Do you mind if you turn around for a second? I'm wearing some underclothes under my tunic and I need to take them off. It's really hot in here."

"Sure, go ahead." She turned to face the other direction, scuffing the gravel with her foot. The grey prison loomed in front of her

"I mean, it's not like I'd mind stripping in front of you," Bumi joked, voice slightly muffled by cloth. "I just don't want to be murdered by your dad if he finds out. Roast Bumi wouldn't be very appetising."

"I don't know about that, Bumi, there's this sizzle-pepper sauce that can make even ocean kumquats taste nice."

There was one last rustle of clothing. "Right, you can turn back... hey, look!"

Honora spun around. "What? Where?" She peered in the direction Bumi was pointing in. The top of a hot air balloon peeped over the edge. "What, didn't you see the balloons as we rode in?"

"No, over there! A little lower. You can just make it out."

She leaned a little closer, the boiling water almost lapping at her feet, and squinted. A faint, shadowy line snaked up the inside of the crater wall, leading up to

the top. It looked like some sort of a track. "Why is there a goat trail in a volcano?"

"I don't know, you're Fire Nation, not me. Anyway, that could be our ticket out of here!"

"Yeah, if only we could cross the many metres of boiling hot water between us, and then somehow get back to the palace without being recaptured."

"Don't be so sarcastic!" Bumi chided. "You know how to pilot a hot air balloon, right?"

"Er, sort of?" She vaguely remembered Uncle Sokka taking her for a lift in one when she was twelve, and letting her steer it. "I haven't really done it for a while."

"Well, I can always help you puzzle it out. Can't be too hard. Anyway, we could just fly the balloon out!"

"Okay, assuming that there is a hot air balloon we can use, how are we going to get across the water to the trail? And how are you going to stop the other balloons from chasing us if I'm flying our one?"

Bumi shrugged. "Hey, I got us this far. Your turn to think! Besides, I think I've sweated my brains out." He mopped at his forehead with his undershirt.

"Oh, pull the other one, Bumi, that barely counts as thinking. If I had started stripping instead of you, I bet I would have seen it instead."

"Would not."

"Would too."

"Would not!"

"Would too- actually, let's just stop that there. Maybe there'll be something inside the prison we could use." Honora started walking off, but she could still make out the "would not" Bumi whispered under his breath.

The two soon arrived back where they started, but had discovered no leads except for the tiny trail Bumi had seen. The male in question flopped onto the stone flags of the courtyard in some shadow as soon as they reached it. "Why aren't you a nation of cooked humans yet?" he moaned. "How do you even live here all year around?"

"I don't generally spend my summers in the middle of a boiling lake," deadpanned Honora, plopping down beside him. Despite her natural tolerance of heat, even she was starting to feel the effects of the oppressive warmth.

"Ha. Ha." Bumi rolled over onto his front. "I'm hungry. Please tell me it's time for lunch."

Honora glanced up at the sky just as her stomach rumbled. "Sure, why not. It looks to be about noon to me."

"...Can you get my bundle for me, please?" asked Bumi, attempting puppy-dog eyes.

"Your eyes look like they're about to have a seizure," said Honora absentmindedly as she glanced up at the gondola platform. There was at least two guards on each side occasionally looking down at them, and they weren't so far off as to be unable to hear any conversations the two prisoners might have.

"Please?" he pleaded.

"No, get it yourself, you lazy slob." She tried sending telepathic messages to him but they obviously didn't work as Bumi frowned.

"Pot calling kettle black, what are your eyes doing, hm?"

"Never mind, Bumi." She racked her brains for an excuse. Whispering would be too suspicious. "I think it'll be cooler inside..." continued Honora uncertainly, resisting another glance towards the platform.

Judging by Bumi's door-ward flopping, he had bought her half-baked excuse. She stood up and poked his body with the tip of her boot. "Get up and walk or I'll eat your lunch."

"No, stop, I'm coming!" He ungracefully rolled to his feet and started staggering through the door after her. It took him all of five seconds to realise that Honora had been bluffing. "Wait. I thought you said it'd be cooler in here?"

She tossed her long black hair over her shoulder and smirked to herself. "I lied."

"Wha-"

"But we do need to be inside. I wasn't about to go discussing escape plans with the guards hovering outside."

"Oh. Right." Their footsteps were surprisingly loud in the silent building as they walked up the stairs to Bumi's 'cell'. "Hey, didn't Uncle Sokka use a cooler cell thingy to escape when he and your dad were stuck here?"

Honora shrugged and sat down on the end of Bumi's bed, picking up her bundle of food. "I don't think I've heard that story before, or if I have, I can't remember it."

Bumi tossed his crumpled, now off-white undershirt into a corner. "I don't remember all the details, but I remember that they unscrewed a cooler cell that insulated to keep the coldness in, and used it as a boat, and that they didn't end up using it, for some reason."

"Well, it's not like we have a whole list of options. It's worth a try, I guess."

"After lunch, though," interjected Bumi between bites.

"Yes, Agni forbid you ever go hungry!"

Unfortunately for Bumi's appetite, lunch, like breakfast, was over all too quickly. However, the promise of a route out lifted their spirits and the two soon headed off.

* * *

Honora thumped a hand against a particularly stubborn door. They had already spent at least an hour exploring the prison, and had found nothing interesting. It was just cell after cell after cell. The only mildly interesting things they had come across so far were the kitchens and canteen, but even those were empty, and in fact, Bumi had been rather distraught to find that there were no remnants of food left behind. He was still griping about this.

"...they couldn't have at least left a little food in there?" he muttered under his breath.

She jiggled the door handle again and shoved a little harder. "Bumi, can you open this door?"

He paused his grumbling for a second, taking hold of the handle and rattling the door so it banged slightly against the frame. Still, it stayed resolutely closed.

"Er, I think it's locked."

"Really?" She tested the lock again. It did seem to make funny clicking noises so she figured he was right, and leaned against it, dejected. "I wish I was a metalbender."

Bumi facepalmed. "You're a firebender, silly. Can't you melt the lock or something using your flamey powers?"

Honora mouthed a silent 'oh'. "...Yes. I could try that. Right." She pushed herself off the wall and, holding her palm close to the door handle, a flame burst to life in her palm. "Push on the door while I'm melting it. It should open faster that way."

Soon the metal was starting to glow red-hot, as well as Honora's face. It wasn't easy to keep a constant, high-temperature flame going for such a long time, and she soon stopped, breathing heavily.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to get some water for you?"

"I'm fine. Is the door starting to give?"

Bumi frowned. "I don't think so." He rammed the door with his shoulder for good measure. It clanged, but didn't move otherwise. "Now that I think about it, the door could be jammed on the other side."

Honora groaned and slid to her knees in front of the door. "I really hope not." Something crackled as she did and she moved away to see the corner or a piece of paper slipped under the door that they had overlooked before. Bumi moved to peer over her shoulder as she unfolded and read the note. Written neatly with black ink was 'Nice try. But we know how your uncle tried to escape.'

Bumi plopped down next to her. "Well."

A furrow appeared between her eyebrows, and she crumpled up the note before incinerating it in frustration. She dusted her palms free of the ashes. "I just want to go throw some knives or something. Preferably at his stupid face." Almost reflexively, she patted her arms, feeling absent-mindedly for her sheaths, but she went still when she felt its ridged surface underneath the cloth of her practise shirt. "Uh, Bumi?"

"Yeah?"

She pushed a hand up one sleeve and let one arm brace fall onto the floor in front of him in response.

Silence, then "Honora, how did you forget?!" he exclaimed, "We've been walking around all day in the boiling heat and you didn't even feel the need to take off some random leather thingies that were cooking your arms?"

"They're arm bracers, thank you very much, and I usually wear them anyway, although I generally wear them without pointy bits of metal in them."

Bumi lifted it up and shook it gingerly, testing the weight. "I thought they'd be heavier. For a piece of leather with knives in it, it's pretty light."

"The knives are pretty skinny. If they were any smaller I'd be calling them needles."

"Huh." He jiggled it again, a little more roughly, and ran his fingers over its lumps and bumps.

"Hey, stop that, they're going to fall out!" The point of one knife was glinting out of its sheath. Honora rescued her knives from Bumi and pushed the loose ones back into place before strapping it back on. "The thing is," she continued, standing up and pacing around the corridor, "what are we going to do with those things? It's not like we can take on their whole camp with one firebender and a handful of metal."

The only sound for the next few minutes was the tap-tap-tap of Honora's boots against the stone tiles as they tried to think of a solution. Finally, Bumi sighed. "I don't know."

"Me neither."

Bumi slouched. "I'm sorry I'm so useless."

"Bumi, don't say that." Honora sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're not useless at all."

"It's just that I can't think of a way out. I can't even bend."

"You don't need to bend to be useful. This sounds a bit strange, but I guess I'm sort of glad I'm stuck here with you."

He sighed, but a shadow of his usual grin was visible. "Let's just think about it later."

"Yeah. Okay."

By unspoken consensus, they started walking back to their rooms together.

"I didn't know being a prisoner could be this boring," Honora grumbled as she plunked onto her bed. It wobbled briefly as Bumi settled on the other end.  
"I suppose... hey, do you mind if I have a look at your knifey-things?"

"Why?" she asked, but unstrapped them from her forearms anyway, pushing them across the bed to Bumi.

He picked one up and started fishing the knives out of them. "Bored."

"Just don't lose any. Or break them. Or cut yourself." She stood up. "I'm going to-" For a moment, she forgot that she'd already taken them off and started feeling for her arm braces again. "-er, go meditate, I guess. I'll be outside on the shore."

"Mhmm." Bumi had already started building some sort of structure with her knives and was probably not paying attention. She sighed and went outside.

Unconsciously or not, the spot Honora eventually chose to sit down on was right opposite the small trail on the outer edge of the lake. She scowled at it before remembering that she was supposed to be meditating, and her eyes closed. The sun was setting, but it was still warm despite this. The slanting rays of sunlight shone across the back of her head and heated up her hair.

Her breathing slowed down, and in her half-dazed state she felt as if she could see the heat in her mind's eye. There was a big burst of intense heat behind her, white hot and fierce, and her own, steady, warm and unwavering, and centred on her heart. She concentrated on its pulsing warmth in lieu of her meditation candles, ignoring the scratch of gravel through her pants and feeling it throb steadily in her mind's eye.

She stayed that way for a little while, calm seeping through every inch of her body. Presently, though, she became aware of something else, a more subtle, quiet heat that rose and fell around her like a thousand candle flames held in a thousand hands, jiggling and bobbing of their own accord. She frowned a little and tried to still them, but the points of heat refused to be still. They swept aside her will, swirling and pushing it and all of a sudden she was in the flow, moving along with it.

_Forward and back. Push and pull. Forward and back-_

-and the water lapped onto the shore with a sudden splash and a hiss as it hit the rocks. Startled, she sprung back from the water and stared at it in surprise. It was still rippling back and forth. For a moment she couldn't comprehend what had happened. She stared blankly at her hands, then at the water, which had gone back to its usual bubbling. A flicker of hope sparked in her mind, and, closing her eyes again, her mind reached for the jiggling flames again, hands almost unconsciously moving in accord with it. She slipped into the flowing motion much faster this time.

_Push and pull. Forwards and back._

As the movement became more familiar, she opened her eyes slowly, trying not to jerk her arms. The water was moving again, swaying and swishing from the shore of the island to the other side of the volcano wall, and she wasn't too surprised when the movement of her arms reminded her of a waterbending exercise Kya had showed her once. The flicker of hope started growing. Perhaps she could hold the water? She racked her brains for an appropriate movement, but her concentration lapsed for just the slightest moment and the water swirled out of her grasp.

Honora didn't realise she was panting until she swallowed and her throat caught from the lack of water. She collapsed onto her back. Fire-water bending took a lot more out of her than normal old firebending. She flicked a small, finger-sized fireball into the air, staring as it dissipated into the blue of the sky before getting up. She needed to get a drink- and more importantly, tell Bumi.

* * *

"Bumi!" Honora rasped, jogging down the corridor. She coughed and stopped to breathe briefly. Ugh, she really needed a drink.

"Yeah- oh, crap." There was a series of loud tinkles and Honora rounded the corner to see Bumi picking her knives up off the floor. "Please don't kill me."

She ignored him. "I think I can help us get out." Between coughs, she told him about her fire-waterbending.

"You can really do all that? Also, er, are you okay? You're coughing a lot."

Her throat was so dry she imagined it shrivelled up in the middle of her neck. "Just thirsty. And," -cough- "kind of tired."

Bumi nodded and patted her bed. "Just sit down. I'll get you some water." He disappeared out the door and returned shortly, cradling all of their bundles in their arm. "I'm assuming it's dinner time." he said with a hopeful grin, setting down the food and opening a water skin for her.

She took it gratefully and drank deeply. The cool water ran refreshingly down her parched throat and woke her up a little, although she still had the overwhelming urge to yawn every few seconds. "Thanks. Anyway, dinner already? Isn't it a little early?"

He grinned and sat down beside her. "You'll need your energy. We're going to escape!"

Honora yawned. "Already?" she muttered.

"Well, we've figured a way to get out, and I've just had some plans to do with the timing. I don't see the point in staying here any longer."

"Mhhmmrrrm..."

"What-oh." Bumi caught Honora as she slumped sideways onto his shoulder, already dozing off. "Well, I guess a nap couldn't hurt," he said to no-one in particular, settling her gently onto the bed. Fortunately, it wasn't terribly bad timing on her part. He needed to go outside anyway. There were some things he needed to check on.

* * *

Many thanks for reading, and multitudinous thank yous to those who have already reviewed, or added this to your alerts and favourites!

Fabulous followers, I am so so sorry I took waaay longer than I said I would to update D: But... exams? /bricked repeatedly  
Anyway, the end shouldn't be too far off. If I don't finish this by the end of the year I think I shall dissolve into a puddle of fail and procrastination.

_Up next: Time to deal with shit._


	6. Interlude III

**Honora's Great Escape (feat. Bumi)**

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Playing in Bryke's sandbox (which I obviously do not own) and smashing their canon-castles.

**/EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE (as of 26/11/2012):** Fanfiction dot net decided to screw up on me, and mixed up the chapters I wanted to post, posting this one instead of the actual one. I changed it as soon as I found out, but I'm not sure if you guys got an alert abut that :/ SO GO READ THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY BEFORE READING THIS INTERLUDE/IGNORING IT BECAUSE YOU'VE ALREADY READ IT. The actual "PART THREE" starts with Honora waking up. If it's still the wrong chapter, send me a PM or review and I'll try to fix it orz

* * *

**INTERLUDE III**

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"...so we're going to go rescue your brother and Honora, " finished Sokka, hurrying to catch up with Katara, who had raced ahead to start preparing the hot air balloons.

"Good thing i have my water skin on me, " said Kya, patting the brown skin slung over her shoulder.

Tenzin looked ahead, frowning, and pointed to the two balloons that were being prepared. "They look a little cramped for five people."

"Five?"

"In case one of them picks up both Bumi and Honora. Then there'll be two adults and three teenagers."

Toph shrugged and scratched her nose. "Maybe you two will take Booger, or whatever his name is."

Kya snickered as Tenzin flushed angrily. "His name is Oogi. I named him when I was six, okay?"

The earthbender snorted and waved a hand. "Bring that up with Lin some time. She was the one who nicknamed him."

Tenzin visibly blanched at the thought. "You know what? I don't think I'll bother."

Their banter was interrupted by Zuko, who came hurrying up behind them holding some scrolls in his hands, a bag slung over his shoulder. "Sorry I took so long, I got given these reports from guard stations of recent unusual events that were just flown in by message hawk. They might be useful in figuring out where the kidnappers went went."

Katara, seeing that Zuko had arrived, moved to join their group. "Okay, the balloons are ready. Zuko can fly the balloon by himself, so he can go with Toph. I'll go with Sokka."

Sokka looked up from the map and scroll he had procured from Zuko and opened his mouth, but was beaten to it by the siblings.

"What about us?" chorused Kya and Tenzin indignantly.

"Aren't those balloons only for three people?" added Tenzin.

"They are, but they don't need to be any bigger," said Katara, putting her hands on her hips. "You two are staying right here, do you hear me?"

Kya gaped. "But-"

"No buts! I refuse to let my children into a danger zone!"

"Mother, we just want to rescue our friends! It's not like we're going alone."

"We're not children any more, mum. You can't protect us forever!"

Toph rocked back onto her heels. "Just let them go, Sweetness. It's not like-"

"No, they're my children and I say they stay behind!" Katara snapped, blue eyes spitting fire. "Right? Sokka? Zuko?" If you looked carefully enough, you could see the beginning of ice claws starting to form on her fingertips.

The two men nodded frantically and inched away from her a little.

"Mum-"

"Oh, and if you two so much as think about sneaking out- hey, you!" Katara waved over a pair of obviously tentative guards. "Can you make sure my children don't run away until I get back?"

They looked to their Fire Lord for confirmation. With a resigned glance in the irate waterbender's direction, he nodded, and they moved to flank the children.

The fire in her eyes dimmed a little. "Good. Now hurry up! We have some kidnappers to attack." She vaulted into the balloon basket and Zuko and Toph, who patted them on the shoulder consolingly, followed suit.

Sokka walked past without looking at them, but as he passed them, he shoved a few objects into Kya's hands, which she, in turn, shoved into her wide belt after a split-second of hesitation. Turning his head just a little in their direction, Sokka winked.

The four of them watched the balloons soar into the sky and move off, but the semi-tranquil moment was ruined by Kya. "I really need to go to the bathroom." she announced. The objects dug uncomfortably into her stomach as she turned towards the toilet.

"I'm sorry, but we'll need to wait for you outside the toilets," said one guard, following Kya.

"We need to supervise you," added the other.

Kya rolled her eyes inwardly. "Of course." she said, closing the door and sitting down. She pulled the objects out of her belt. The first one was a scroll, and she only had to unroll it a little to see the title, written carefully and neatly across the top with bold brush-strokes- 'GUARD STATION REPORT COLLATION'. There was also a piece of paper which she unfolded to reveal a large, detailed map of the Fire Nation. Finally, she took out a grey, cloth-covered ball. She tossed it between her hands, wondering what it was. It looked familiar, but for a moment she couldn't remember for the life of her why. Think, think, think... A memory popped up in Kya's head from when she was younger- uncle tossing a small grey ball around and a kitchen filled with smoke. A smoke bomb! Perfect for distractions. Kya felt a slow grin spread over her face. Her uncle was the best.

As the guards led them back to Tenzin's room, she leaned over and whispered in his ear. "I have a smokescreen. Follow my lead." He gave her a quizzical look at first, but it cleared as he caught sight of the grey ball. He was obviously a little more familiar with uncle's toys.

They were about to pass the doorway which would lead them to the stables when Kya grabbed Tenzin's hand and simultaneously threw down the smoke bomb on the floor. The guards barely had time to shout before the surrounding area was filled with thick grey smoke, and they started waving their arms, trying to clear the air. Kya didn't stop to admire the efficiency of the bomb. She was already racing down the corridors, Tenzin in tow. The two arrived at the stables where Oogi was chewing peacefully on some hay and they vaulted onto him, Kya on his back, Tenzin at the reins. Oogi stopped chewing and seemed to groan questioningly, although how that worked, Kya wasn't sure. "Yip yip!" cried Tenzin, holding onto the reins. "We need to help rescue Bumi and Honora!" With another groan, the sky bison rose into the air and headed out of the Fire Nation capital just as their unfortunate guards ran into the stables.

"So..." said Tenzin, once they were on their way, "where exactly are we going?" He looked behind him to where Kya was scribbling with a bit of charcoal on the scroll.

"Well, we have all these reports, right? I've just gone through them quickly and underlined the events that look similar. From what I've read, our kidnappers are probably together on a group of mongoose dragons. Not all of the reports are very detailed though. Most are missing either the direction or the distance from the group. But if we go like this..." Kya underlined a sentence on the scroll with a finger. "...'seen travelling in a north-north-eastwards direction from the Puhong district', so I draw a line northwards from Puhong." She sketched a rough line onto the map. "Then this one says 'observed two kilometres from Coastal Outpost 42', so..." A circle was drawn around the location of the outpost on the map. "And look, they come quite close over here. If we do this heaps of times and see where they all cross-"

"-we should be able to get some sort of idea where they're headed." finished Tenzin. "Which direction does it look like at the moment?"

Kya was silent for a few moments as she sketched another line onto the paper. "North-ish," she said finally. "Although I don't have the faintest why they would be going in that direction. There's nothing there but a few small towns.

Tenzin nodded and tugged on the reins gently. Oogi turned slightly to fly north. "Do you want me to help or keep an eye out?"

"Keep an eye out- this shouldn't take too long."

For the next few minutes, the saddle was quiet except for the scratching of Kya's charcoal onto the map and the occasional rustle of paper or fabric as one of them shifted in their seats. Finally, Kya broke the silence. "Oh, no," she murmured.

"What is it?" Tenzin turned around.

She showed him the map. There were scribbles all over the map, but the intersection direction was clear, leading almost straight to Boiling Rock Island.

* * *

All my interludes are kind of short. Well, I guess they are interludes.

Thanks a lot for reading, and if you choose to review or add to alerts or favourite, then I certainly won't complain ;D

/EDIT (as of 26/11/2012) Thanks for sticking with me as I wrestle with the dumb uploading problems!

This also means that next chapter is the final chapter...which I still need to write. And I'm starting my NaNo project in a few days. Welp.

_Up next: The final chapter_


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